Many Lakewood paraprofessionals who lost their job in the school district due to the recent changes in the contracts have returned to work, Board of Education President Isaac Zlatkin confirms to TLS.

Zlatkin released the following statement to TLS:

“Thanks to the efforts of various non-public school officials including Rabbi Avi Scnhnall, Rabbi Josh Pruzansky and Dr. Campbell from the New Jersey Department of Education clarification was obtained that that the highly qualified personnel requirements apply only to those paraprofessionals who are directly employed by the local educational agency. The requirement does not apply when the District contracts with a third-party vendor as we do in Lakewood to provide these services. While having highly qualified professionals working with our children is a good thing, not mandating it should allow the vendors to have a greater pool of candidates to choose from while at the same time allowing them to reemploy experienced paraprofessionals who know the children, but still may not have fully achieved the highly qualified status.”

[TLS]